"There will be no negotiations. Haven't you heard me?" said Rhys and blew fire on her from his mouth.

Adrianna was standing only ten feet away from him and the fire that he blew was so severe that it could have easily burnt a large tree to ashes. However, Adrianna was quick to throw the aqua spell and extinguish the fire in air. Lots of water poured on it out of nowhere.

​​

"How did you do that?" he asked and then he attacked her by opening its mouth and launching it on her with his bare fangs. One bite and she would be dead with the venom he had in them. He had paralyzed, killed and eaten many of his prey like that. Eating Adrianna would be a pleasure.

Quickly, she dodged his attack and jumped to the side. He turned to her and launched the attack baring his fangs, but this time Adrianna jumped in air and climbed his body. She started running towards its head avoiding all the scaly thorns, but it was really difficult and she kept slipping. When she reached the top of his head, she folded her right hand in a tight fist and pounded it on his head with so much force that the serpent came to a standstill. It stopped moving completely.

The sphere in which the two of them were inside was filled with gray and black smoke and soon no one could see anything inside.

"Adrianna!" shouted Dmitri as he ran towards the circle but an electric current threw him back.

---

Adrianna had made her way to Rhys' cell. She looked inside and found herself in an ocean of blackness. It was so dark inside that she took time to adjust her vision. She was surprised. Walking further into his cell, she noticed that it was getting only darker. How could a person be so dark inside? Was his persona like that or did he know that she had entered his cell and was cautious about it?

Time to test.

"Where are you Rhys?" she asked.

The serpent that he was at the moment froze. He couldn't move a muscle. It was as if someone was forcing him to stay in that position. Suddenly, he heard her inside his head. He wanted to open his mouth and breathe fire but he couldn't twitch a muscle. Anxiety grew and his only option was to speak to her.

"How the hell are you in my head?" he asked.

"That is none of your concern," she replied with a scoff.

"What do you want?"

"I already told you. Negotiate with me."

Adrianna could see the darkness around her dissipating. A man walked from the side in the cell. He was too handsome but he had a deceptive look on his face that was easy for her to interpret.

"In what way?" he asked with an unwarranted smile.

"I know that Ziu is the favorite choice of the King of Serpents as his heir but you are the eldest and you are the rightful heir. I can help you with ascending to the throne. Would you want that?" She threw a carrot in front of him.

Rhys became quiet for a moment. He tilted his head as if contemplating what she offered. After a while he said, "Do you have any idea about how powerful Ziu is? If he comes to know about this conversation, he would make sure that I go to the deepest cracks present in the ocean and never see the light of the day."

"Of course I know about him otherwise why would I offer you this deal," replied Adrianna pointing her finger at him in anger.

Rhys walked towards her and then walked past her. He was amused to see her in his brain and talk to her like that. This was how Ziu talked to him often so he was well aware of this method of conversation. However, he thought that only Ziu was capable of this kind of magic. It was like exposing his deep, dark secrets to him, which was what he was afraid of. This was why he was very scared of Ziu. That is why he had tried his best to keep his mind as dark as possible.

"Well I have my conditions," he said after thinking for a while.

Adrianna smiled. She was expecting that.

---

On the outside, Dmitri had become extremely anxious. He was twisting his wedding ring constantly and fidgeted. He walked around the circle testing its periphery. He had a wooden stick in his hand that would burn at the tip the moment it touched the electric field. The black and gray smoke that had filled the invisible bubble was pretty large. He was giving exasperated sighs as he waited for this to end and see his wife. He looked at all the wizards and witches and yelled at them, "Break this field now!"

All of them including Fleur flinched but didn't dare to go against their Queen.

"If you won't break the field, I will ensure that you people get skinned alive. You have no regards to your Queen's safety and so none of you deserve to be in her personal safety team," he threatened.

"It's not like that Dmitri," Fleur tried to reason.

"Then break the circle! I want to go inside and get my wife out," he shouted.

Seeing that none of them was ready to take action, he said to Fleur, "You cannot take a single decision when it comes to your Queen's safety. What kind of a personal guard are you?"

Liam growled warning him to speak properly with Fleur but Dmitri ignored that warning.

"You are of no use Fleur," he continued feeling all the more agitated.

"Dmitri, stop it," warned Liam.

Dmitri rolled his eyes. "You are feeling horrible with the way I am speaking to Fleur. My wife is trapped in that Goddamn circle with a serpent who could take so many werewolves single-handedly. What do you think I should do?"

Exasperated at his panicky behavior, Fleur said, "We have to wait since those are Queen's orders."

"Just great!" shouted Dmitri and resumed his walk around the periphery with the wooden stick hoping that the field would disappear soon.

---

"State your terms and conditions," Adrianna narrowed her eyes at him.